Early morning bust: ‘High-profile’ terrorist among four held in police raid

Allege involvement in Shikarpur, Abbas Town blasts, among other activities

KARACHI: Police on Tuesday claimed to have apprehended four militants, including a high-profile suspect allegedly involved in the Abbas Town and Shikarpur bomb blasts, as well as attacks on pilgrims' buses in Balochistan.

The arrest of Muhammad Anwar, with aliases Maulvi Abdullah, Akbar and Hafiz Nasir, was revealed at a press conference by SSP Mazhar Mashwani at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Headquarters on Tuesday. The suspect carried a head money of Rs2.5 million by the Sindh government. "He himself is an expert in making bombs," said SSP Mashwani.



Police officials maintained that Anwar was nabbed in an intelligence-based operation but did not specify the exact location of the raid. However, it was revealed that authorities raided several localities in Ittehad Town and MA Jinnah Road areas in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Others taken into custody were identified as Manzoor alias Muavia, Abdul Hammed alias Sultan and Abdul Latif.

A large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives was also recovered from the suspects' possession, including anti-tank mines, hand grenades, detonators, batteries and pistols along with bullets.

Anwar, in collusion with two other militants, identified as Asif Chotu and Hafeez Pandrani, allegedly planned the suicide bombing at the central imambargah in Shikarpur in January this year. At least 61 people died and 50 were injured in the explosion that occurred there during Friday prayers.





Two alleged abettors of the Shikarpur attack, Ghulam Rasool Brohi and Khalil Brohi, have already been arrested and Anwar is said to be a close associate of the latter.

He also reportedly supplied explosives for the twin blasts in Karachi's Abbas Town [two years ago], said SSP Mashwani. Around 48 people were killed and 180 wounded in that attack on March 3, 2013.

According to the CTD, Anwar is affiliated with several proscribed terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Junoodal Fida, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaysh-al-Islam, Jaish-al-Adl, Jaish-al-Nasr, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Tehreek Imarat-i-Islamia Afghanistan. The suspect is also said to be involved in attacks on Shia pilgrims' buses in Mastung and Noshki districts of Balochistan, the CTD official asserted. Furthermore, he was also said to be involved in attacks on trucks carrying NATO goods to Afghanistan.

Apart from his direct involvement in these activities, Anwar also reportedly managed the movement of terrorists. In Balochistan, he was reportedly responsible for the movement of Chotu, a commander of the outlawed LeJ.

All the nabbed suspects are being interrogated for their involvement in terrorism and will be presented before a court soon, it was stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th,  2015.